1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a work machine such as a hydraulic excavator, the work machine including a battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, miniaturization of a work machine is being advanced. This requires various devices such as an engine and a fuel tank that are mounted on the work machine to be arranged closely to each other within a limited space. This arrangement can generate a case of locating the battery near a fuel-filler portion of the fuel tank at a high position. The battery has an upper surface, on which an electric component such as a connection terminal is exposed.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-356874 discloses a hydraulic excavator including a fuel tank and a battery disposed on the fuel tank. In this hydraulic excavator, the upper surface of the battery is located above the fuel-filler portion to restrain fuel, which leaks or splashes at the time of filling the fuel to the fuel tank through the fuel-filler portion, from reaching the upper surface of the battery.
The upper surface of the battery, however, is not always allowed to be located above the fuel-filler portion. Besides, there is a requirement for preventing dusts from adherence to the upper surface of the battery. For this reason, the upper surface of the battery is conventionally covered with a protection cover.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-152524 discloses a battery protection cover for protecting a battery disposed on a floor in a machine room. This battery protection cover has a cover body made of an insulator. The cover body is in a sheet shape, having an upper wall portion opposed to the upper surface of the battery and a hang-down portion hanging down to the floor while opposed to a vertical surface of the battery.
The cover body is attached to the battery. The battery has a pair of supporting rods protruding upward beyond longitudinally opposite ends of the upper surface of the battery, respectively. The cover body is attached to the supporting rods with screw members. Specifically, the upper wall portion of the cover body has respective through-holes corresponding to the supporting rods, and the screw members are screwed into upper ends of the supporting rods through the through-holes. The upper wall portion is thus sandwiched between the screw members and the supporting rods.
The battery protection cover, which covers the vertical surface of the battery with the hang-down portion thereof, can effectively protect the vertical surface of the battery from splashing fuel and the like; however, oil and the like is permitted to splash to a periphery of the battery. Hence, in the case of locating the battery not on the floor but at a high position, there is a risk of permitting oil and the like to splash to the periphery of the battery to stain a wide region.